


I Would Have Died (I Would Have Loved You)

by ParadiseAvenger



Series: Parentheses [1]
Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012), Tangled (2010), rise of the brave tangled frozen dragons - Fandom
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff, Temperature Play
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-23
Updated: 2014-02-06
Packaged: 2018-01-09 19:30:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1149921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ParadiseAvenger/pseuds/ParadiseAvenger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A girl, locked in a tower... A boy, invisible to the world... It was love. And then it wasn't... Jackunzel.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Remember the Day

There are hardly any good Jackunzel stories out there… so, I decided to write one. And it will eventually have mature content.

I got the title idea from the beautiful song “Losing Your Memory” by Ryan Star. If you listen to it, you should probably grab a tissue.

X X X

Time passed quickly for immortals. Months turned to years in the blink of an eye. And for the lonely spirit of Jack Frost, this was both a blessing and a curse. After all, time healed all wounds, didn’t it? But right now, the swift passage of time was more a curse since Jack often remembered things as they had been. The last time he had been in the forests outside the city of Corona, the wooded area was just that—wooded. Completely and thoroughly wooded with trees and it was really Jack’s own fault what happened (not that he would ever admit it).

It was dark and he was looking at the ground, focusing on freezing it so the snow he brought the next day would stick. He didn’t often look where he was going anymore, having been with the North Wind for years and trusting it with his very life. Needless to say, it was quite the shock for young Jack Frost when he was happily soaring through the night sky one minute and colliding harshly with the stony bricks of a tower the next. Startled, he lost his grip on his staff and the wind both and plummeted to the ground below.

To add insult to injury after his harsh crash-landing, his staff smacked down on top of his head. Grumbling, he swept himself to his feet and glared at the tower as if someone had put it there just to humiliate the winter spirit in this one careless moment. But that seemed like an awful lot of effort, especially since no one knew Jack Frost even existed. With a heavy sigh, Jack rubbed his offending injuries—namely his head and his behind—and took to the sky once again. 

That was when he saw it—saw her. It was just a little movement that he wouldn’t have seen if he hadn’t been looking _very carefully_ where he was going. The shuttered balcony window of the tower swung open and there was a glimmer of golden hair in the moonlight. Jack halted, hovering in a place where the child could have seen him if she looked but not so obviously placed as to make it painfully clear he had discovered yet another person who could not see him. 

The little girl leaned her chin on the edge of the window and stared out at the night sky for a long moment. Her green eyes glowed hopefully in the starlight, the color of spring grass that Jack could never touch. Then, she called softly, “Is anyone out there?” 

Jack’s heart began to pound eagerly and he almost flew closer to her—almost.

But then the child closed her eyes and sighed sadly. She closed the shutters and disappeared back into her tower silently.

And that should have been the end of it. Thoroughly embarrassed, Jack Frost should have buried the tower up to its windows in snow and left well-enough alone. He should have slunk off to Antarctica to nurture his pride. (Winter was supposed to be over in this area anyway.) He should have… but he didn’t. And it would be a very long time before anyone accused Jack Frost of being too smart—if anyone ever did. Instead of doing any of these things, Jack showered the woods in his most beautiful snow and waited on the tower’s roof until the next morning.

He listened to the voices inside, smiling when he heard the little girl ask sweetly to go outside to play and sneering when he heard the mother meanly refuse with lies about it being unsafe. How could a child never be allowed outside to play in the snow? 

So Jack let the black-haired woman know exactly how he felt about her words and lies. Mother Gothel would wonder where that snowball came from for years to come, but it was worth it to hear the little girl laugh even if it reinforced the fact that no one could see him.

…

As the years passed, slowing to a more human pace for lonely Jack, he returned to the tower eagerly whenever he could. In the winter, he was certain to bring his most beautiful snow even if the girl couldn’t play in it and in the summer, he did his best to keep his chilly presence under wraps.

He watched her grow from a little child to a youth roughly his own age (1). He sat on the windowsill and watched her. He listened to her sing, listened to her talk to herself and the murals she had drawn on the walls of her tower, and listened to her tearful pleas for a friend. He began to think that she might be lonelier than he was. After all, she was trapped within the walls of this tower. At least he had the entire world at his fingertips, even if not a soul could see him.

Then, he listened to her cry herself to sleep and he decided then that he would make her see him—no matter the cost.

Jack started small, uncertain of exactly how to go about getting believers. (He knew other spirits left gifts and tokens. The Easter Bunny left his silly painted eggs, Santa Claus left fabulous presents, and even the Tooth Fairy left coins. But Jack had never wanted to bribe children into believing in him. Right now though, he was desperate enough to try anything—not just for his sake, but for the lonely girl’s also.)

It was the middle of summer yet he crafted roses and figurines out of ice and left them on the girl’s windowsill. She was awed by them for hours before they finally began to melt. After a few days of that, she showed the sculptures to her mother and asked how such a thing was possible. Jack’s heart pounded, but the girl’s mother didn’t even mention his name. In fact, she barely answered the young girl’s question at all, expertly changing the subject.

Unperturbed, Jack made larger sculptures. They were practically life-sized and lasted even longer, but these only succeeded in getting the girl into trouble for the puddles of water left behind by his creations. So Jack returned to his small statuettes. This time, he left one in an image of himself and was pleased to find that the girl asked her mother who the person was. But the woman didn’t answer at all and once again evaded easily. Jack threw a snowball at the back of her head, earning himself a laugh from the girl before they were both shamed by the woman’s glare.

Jack soon realized that the girl spent much of her time reading. She read the same three books over and over even though they must not have been very interesting with subjects like botany, geology, and cooking (2). But he then noticed that the girl was slowly working her way through each and every recipe in the cook book and she stared so longingly out the window at the forest below. 

So, he wandered the forest until he found the most beautiful flowering plant he could. He dug it up and brought it to her tower, laying his blooming present on the window where he had left his icy gifts. She gasped, looking around for whoever had left the gift, but she still didn’t see him. She spoke to the air, pleading for her mysterious patron to come out, and Jack resisted the urge to tell her that he was right in front of her.

That night, the mean woman scolded the girl, obviously thinking she had left the forbidden tower to fetch the plant from the dangerous world outside the walls. Even Jack had to admit that the story the girl told—about someone just leaving the lovely plant on her window with a figure of un-melting ice—sounded far-fetched. But he couldn’t let her be bullied for something he had done and so… another snowball to the rescue because that was all Jack had in his arsenal.

Jack let a few days pass until the black-haired woman calmed. Then, he left the girl a new ice sculpture of a beautiful castle he had seen on the edge of the sea. Beside it, he left a statuette of her with her long draping hair and another of himself with his staff. He didn’t know what he was going for, but he knew in his heart that she would see him someday.

The girl sat in the windowsill while she brushed her hair and she occasionally looked like she wanted to speak to the empty air around her, but thought better of it each time. Finally though, her desire overrode her common sense and she asked timidly, “Are you out there?”

Jack slid down from the roof of the tower to perch beside her on the windowsill. He let his coolness soak into her skin and she shivered faintly, smiling.

“You left me the ice sculptures and the plant, didn’t you? Thank you, if you did,” she said to the wrong direction.

Jack crafted a rose from ice and set it beside her.

She gasped and looked around before sighing sadly. “Why can’t I see you? I really want to see you. I need to see you…” A tear slid down her cheek, sparkling in the sunlight. “Please,” she whispered. “Please…”

In that moment, Jack wanted to reach out and touch her, to brush the tears from her cheeks, more than he had ever wanted anything. He breathed out softly, letting his powers freeze the tear so that it fell into her lap like a crystal.

The girl laughed wetly, knowing that someone or something strange was with her even if she could not see Jack. “Why can’t I see you?” she whispered. “I really want to… please, just let me see you… It doesn’t matter if you look strange or anything, not to me…”

Again, Jack crafted an icy statuette of himself and placed it beside her with the rose he had made a few moments earlier. The girl gathered both into her hands and clutched them even though they must have been cold.

“Please,” she whispered and squeezed her eyes shut. “Please… I know you’re there. You have to be there.”

A strange feeling welled in Jack’s heart—a surge of warmth or light or something. He had never felt it before and for a moment, he couldn’t breathe. Would she see him? Was this the moment they had both been so desperately wishing for?

“Rapunzel?” the black-haired woman’s mean voice rang through the tower from inside. “What are you doing on that windowsill? Get down and come inside right now!”

The feeling snapped, breaking into a thousand pieces, and Jack could have screamed in frustration. His creations in the girl’s tight grip abruptly melted, slipping away between her fingers. She made a soft desperate sound, more tears flowing down her cheeks, but then sucked in a breath. She wiped her cheeks dry with her sleeve and then pulled herself back into the tower, back into the arms of that woman.

Frustrated and aching, Jack swept the North Wind into a raging storm around the tower, throwing his powers into it until it was snowing in the middle of July. He knew it was stupid of him and that he should have been used to not being seen, but he felt that he had been so close to her seeing him and the frustration was overpowering. 

When he calmed later, he would realize that he had made a small step forward. The girl knew he was out there and he now knew her name—Rapunzel—and it would give him a better idea on how to get her to believe in him.

…

Being almost one hundred years old had taught Jack Frost some semblance of patience. He waited a few days, watching for when the mean black-haired woman would leave to fetch groceries or do whatever she did when she eventually left the girl alone in the tower. (He didn’t care enough to follow her.) Finally, she did indeed leave and Rapunzel watched her mother depart from the tower’s wide windowsill with one hand raised in silent farewell. She stood there for a long time, waiting, and Jack didn’t want to keep her waiting long.

He flew down, landing on the sill and seeping out his signature cold so she would know he was there. 

She shivered, but immediately smiled. “I know you’re there,” she whispered as if her mother was still watching. “How are you?”

Jack moved to the window and touched the glass, swirls of beautiful frost fanning from his fingertips. 

Rapunzel gasped, smiling wider. “That’s beautiful. I wish I could do something like that.”

Jack grinned to himself and began to write in the frost. Slowly, mindful of his poor handwriting and limited ability to spell, he wrote her name.

Her lovely green eyes widened, reaching out to touch the letters as if to assure herself they were real even if the thin frost melted beneath her fingers. “Who are you?” she whispered. “If you know my name, will you tell me yours?”

The winter child beamed. This was going exactly as he had hoped. Deliberately, he scrawled his own name in the thin ice.

“Jack Frost,” Rapunzel read aloud. “Jack Frost,” she repeated slowly, tasting the name on her lips.

Jack felt that strange feeling welling up in his chest again like a flower slowly opening in sunlight. His heart soared, lighter and warmer than any spring breeze as Rapunzel repeated his name over and over again as if it was a mantra that would allow her to see him. But, though the feeling remained blooming there in his chest, she still didn’t see him.

“No,” he breathed out.

Rapunzel turned quickly towards the sound of his voice, her lips curved in a bright smile. “Jack,” she murmured.

He looked up into her face, but felt her eyes go through him. “You can’t see me, can you?” he whispered and couldn’t bear to say the words that were slowly eating through him. Maybe no one ever would see him. Maybe he was meant to be invisible and lonely forever.

But then, Rapunzel answered him. “I can’t, but I can hear you.”

For a moment, Jack’s mouth hung helplessly open. “Y-You can hear me?”

She nodded and then stretched out her hands in his direction.

Jack winced as her fingers combed through the empty air in front of him, but he took a step forward to see if she could touch him. When her hands passed through him, he sighed sadly, but wasn’t surprised. “Guess not,” he murmured.

“What?” she asked. 

“You can’t touch me either,” he told her.

Her eyes widened, her fingers stretching out eagerly. “Are you close? Why can’t I touch you?”

“Maybe because I’m… just a spirit. Maybe no one can touch me… or see me…” Jack tried to just be happy that she could hear him at least, but even so this realization that she could not see or touch him was depressing none the less. 

“A spirit?” Rapunzel repeated.

“Yeah,” he said. “I’m the spirit of winter… of ice and cold.”

“That’s amazing,” she breathed. “A spirit.”

Then, warmth abruptly flooded his entire being. Jack looked up sharply and his eyes went right into Rapunzel’s. She gasped, her hands flying to her mouth, and then she smiled so beautifully. For a moment, he just stared at her, uncertain. She reached out, but halted nervously. Jack didn’t know what made him reach out his own trembling fingers for her outstretched hand but he was glad he did because for the first time in the small lonely eternity that his life was, he touched another person’s warm skin.

A tear slipped down Rapunzel’s cheek and she sobbed happily. Then, she threw herself at Jack, her arms wrapping around her first real friend. He was cool to the touch, but she welcomed the chill in the heat of summer. He smelled like winter, crisp and fresh and hinted with mint and wood smoke. The animal skin he wore over his shoulders was rough and strange, but nothing would make Rapunzel release him—not even the return of Mother Gothel.

Jack held her just as tightly, soaking up the touch he had desperately desired for a hundred years. Her body was warm, so warm, so alive, and he felt her heart beating quickly within the cage of her ribs. She wore a soft cotton dress and her long hair was like silk beneath his hands. He felt the press of her budding breasts and the puff of her warm breath on the side of his neck. She smelled like cookies and sunlight and spring flowers. God, she was so beautiful.

It was a small eternity before either of them was able to let go of the other, even to speak. And so, two lonely souls became friends.

X X X

(1) Jack’s real age is actually most likely closer to twelve or thirteen, not eighteen like the internet claims. We can decide this from context. In his flashback, he appears to be from the colonial period. Back then, he would have to be twelve or thirteen to be out ice skating with his sister rather than working.

(2) The three books Rapunzel has in her tower actually are about these three subjects. Boring, huh?

Questions, comments, concerns?

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	2. This Is What Dreams Should Always Be

A lot of what Jack teaches Rapunzel in this chapter are things that she was singing about in her song, “When Will My Life Begin?” which I thought was very clever of me. (I actually had the lyrics for the song on screen while I was writing this and checked them off as I did them.) Where else would Rapunzel have learned half that stuff, being locked up by neglectful Gothel anyway? I think from Jack!

X X X

Jack returned often after that, as predictable and often as the moon came out in the sky above the tower or the sun rose each morning. He came by during the day when Mother Gothel—he learned that was the mean black-haired woman’s name—was gone or late at night when she was asleep so that he and Rapunzel could be alone together. 

When he came during the day, he was always amused to see just how busy Rapunzel kept herself. She hurried about her little tower as if she had an important schedule to keep, bustling through a regimen of chores and activities. She cleaned as if fourteen people lived in her tiny tower and cooked as if she had to feed an army. She painted, and painted, and painted, until there was hardly an inch of space left on her walls and ceiling.

“You should make yourself a new dress,” Jack remarked from his perch on the very top of his staff. 

Rapunzel tugged self-consciously at the too-short hem of her dress. The sleeves were frayed at the edges and growing rather tight on her arms. “I can’t,” she murmured, her cheeks going pink with embarrassment that Jack didn’t fully understand.

“Why not?” he asked her.

“I don’t know how,” she admitted nervously.

Jack smiled at her, his teeth perfect and white. “Why didn’t you say so? I’ve watched plenty of people fix clothing over the years.”

Rapunzel tucked some of her endless blonde hair behind her ear. “Really? You could teach me?” 

“Sure,” Jack said. “I can teach you lots of things. I’ve been all over the world for the past hundred years—there isn’t much I haven’t seen.”

Rapunzel studied him for a moment, her slim fingers wrapped around the handle of her broom. “Jack?” she whispered, as if giving him a chance to pretend he didn’t hear her. But Jack had been lonely for so long that every fiber of his being was attuned to her so that he wouldn’t miss a second of interaction.

“Yeah?”

“Was it… was it lonely? Being on your own all that time?” she asked him.

Jack looked at her, his eyes a shade of blue she had never seen in her life. His eyes were so beautiful, so deep, so gentle and fragile. “Are you lonely in this tower, Rapunzel?” he asked instead. 

She answered too quickly for it to be true. “No. Of course not,” she said. “I have Mother, after all.”

The winter child moved through the tower and took a cookie from the plate, nibbling delicately without speaking in a way that said he didn’t really believe her. 

“And you,” Rapunzel added.

Jack looked over his shoulder at her and smiled stunningly. 

“Rapunzel!” came a call from outside the tower. “Let down your hair!”

Jack smirked at Rapunzel and fashioned a snowball out of thin air, tossing it teasingly in the air. She giggled, but quickly chased him out the tower window before tossing out the long rope of her hair to hoist Mother Gothel up from below.

…

Jack was never one to keep Rapunzel waiting long. He was too aware of just how short her life would be compared to his own and he had heard stories of children losing their belief with age and he wouldn’t dare waste a moment of their time together. So, he returned that night with some needles, a thimble, some thread, a pair of scissors, and an armload of fabric.

Rapunzel was already in her room, lying on her bed with her golden hair like a nest all around her. Jack didn’t tell her that she reminded him of a little sparrow ready to test its wings. He wasn’t sure how she would take being compared to a bird. She sat up with a wide smile when he blew into her room and set down his great gifts at the foot of her bed.

“Wow,” she breathed, feeling the fabric beneath her fingertips in awe. “Where did you get all this, Jack?”

“From the castle on the sea,” he told her. “They have a market there and a palace.”

“I wish I could go there,” Rapunzel said softly.

Jack’s heart skipped a beat. “I could take you,” he offered.

For a moment, there was nothing but raw longing in Rapunzel’s expression. Her mouth opened, petal-pink lips curved into an eager smile, but then she looked at the painted walls of her tower and sadness lined her face. She wanted to go, she really did, but Jack could see that she wasn’t ready.

“It’s okay,” Jack said before she could speak. “We have plenty to do here. Look.” Then, he picked up a long swath of violet satin, draped it around his head and shoulders, and gave her a goofy grin. “How do I look?”

She giggled, took one end of the fabric, and pulled lightly so that he unraveled from it comically. “I think this might look better on me,” she teased. Then, laughing, she wrapped herself up in a great knot of fabric and golden hair that quickly turned into a disaster. 

It was Jack’s turn to laugh as he helped her untangle herself. “As you might have realized,” he said, “that’s not how you make clothes.”

She glowered at him, but there was no real anger in it. After a moment that last mere seconds, she said eagerly, “Teach me.”

Jack helped her moved aside some furniture to make space on the floor and then spread out the fabric. Rapunzel already had some pencils for marking and an old dress that was never going to fit again. Together, she and Jack hacked it to pieces to make a pattern to create a new dress, measuring the fabric Jack had brought to be larger and longer and far prettier. 

“Why does that nasty woman only give you such ugly clothes?” Jack asked Rapunzel as she cut along the lines they had traced.

“Mother’s not nasty,” Rapunzel said to Jack tirelessly. “And maybe it’s all there is.”

“Where does she go when she leaves you here? Does she go to the palace on the sea?”

“I don’t know,” Rapunzel said. “I just know she brings back everything we need.”

“She just brings food and stuff for herself,” Jack protested.

“She does not,” Rapunzel told him firmly. “She brings me paints and almost anything else I ask for.”

“Then why don’t you ask for things?” Jack asked.

Rapunzel tucked back her long hair. “I don’t want to bother her. She protects me, keeps me safe in this tower.”

Jack didn’t ask what exactly Rapunzel needed protecting from. Instead, he let the subject drop and showed her how to thread a needle and tie it off. He demonstrated some easy small stitches and let her try. When she did nothing but poke herself in the fingers, he gave her the thimble and her face lit up happily. Jack’s heart swelled with her belief and with something else that he didn’t have a name for.

Rapunzel finished the dress in record time. She had a real knack for anything artsy. With the innocence of someone who had lived alone in a tower with only her mother for most of her life, she immediately stripped off her old dress right in front of Jack and pulled on the new one. Jack sensibly averted his eyes, but he wasn’t sure he should tell her that this was something she shouldn’t do in front of him. He didn’t want anything to come between them, not even things other people would look down on.

Rapunzel turned to face him, smiling, more beautiful than ever. “Well,” she said as she twirled for his approval, “how do I look?”

“Beautiful,” Jack breathed out.

Her smile widened and she smoothed her hands down against the silky fabric of her new dress. “You really think so?”

He nodded.

Then, she looked at herself in the mirror and a frown creased her brows. “How will I explain this to Mother?”

“Maybe she won’t notice,” Jack suggested.

Rapunzel pulled her eyes away from her reflection, biting her lower lip nervously. “Maybe I could explain you to Mother… Maybe she could be able to see you…”

Jack shook his head. 

Rapunzel turned the mirror towards the wall. “Well, I’ll think of something to tell her,” she said softly. “She’ll believe me eventually.”

Jack didn’t think it was possible for that self-centered woman to ever believe Rapunzel, but he didn’t was to burst her bubble so he just agreed. Mother Gothel called to Rapunzel and Jack followed, invisible and silent, as Rapunzel joined her mother in their small living room.

“Where did you get that dress?” Gothel demanded the moment she saw Rapunzel.

“I made it,” Rapunzel explained nervously. “Do you like it?”

“It’s fine,” Gothel said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “Now, come sing for Mommy. She’s feeling a little rundown.”

Much to Jack’s surprise, that was the end of it. Mother Gothel cared nothing for Rapunzel and only cared about herself. Jack watched silently as Rapunzel brought her mother a brush and sat before her, singing sweetly until her hair glowed like a rising sun. Jack watched the time turn back and Gothel was beautiful again. It was on the tip of his tongue to tell Rapunzel that Gothel was just using her hair for herself, but he couldn’t be certain of that—not really. Maybe there really was something out there that Rapunzel needed to be protected from.

…

Jack was gone for a week after that, bringing more snow and ice to a little Viking village called Berk. (It wasn’t that the Vikings really wanted snow or even particularly cared about it, but they were always being attacked by fire-breathing dragons and Jack didn’t want their entire village to burn to the ground.) When he returned to Rapunzel’s tower in the middle of Corona’s hottest summer ever, she was more than happy to see him, but not exactly for the reason Jack had hoped.

Rapunzel was completely and utterly tangled in her miles of golden hair. It didn’t look like anything short of a sword was going to cut her free from the mess, but Jack did have the patience of an immortal. Over the next few hours, the two of them worked her loose. Then, so it wouldn’t happen again anytime soon, they both brushed and brushed and brushed until her hair was silky smooth and tangle-free. Only then did Rapunzel sort of break down.

“I hate all this hair!” she said tearfully. “I wish I could cut it, but—but—but—”

“It’s a magical gift that needs to be protected. That’s why you’re in here,” Jack reminded her a little unhelpfully.

Rapunzel gave him a withering look. “I know that, but why does it have to be my magical gift? Why can’t someone else be cursed with all this hair?”

Jack ran a long strand through his fingers. “Well, maybe you should stop looking at it as hair,” he said slowly, thinking of how to phrase what he wanted to say.

“What?” Rapunzel repeated, exasperated. 

“Think of it more as… an extension…”

“An extension of what?”

“Yourself,” he said and let his staff fall into the crook of his elbow so he could closer investigated her hair. Then, he grinned broadly, tugging the lock of hair in this grasp lightly. “You know, I think it’s pretty cool. You have all the rope you’ll ever need.”

“Rope,” Rapunzel repeated dubiously. She was looking at Jack like he had gone off his rocker or grown a second head. 

“Think about it,” he continued. “You use your hair to hoist around Gothel every time she leaves or comes back to the tower. If it can support that old biddy, it can definitely support you.”

Rapunzel just stared at him, looking like she didn’t believe a word of it. 

“I’ve seen a lot of people do cool things with rope. I bet your can do even better,” Jack continued, smiling at her confidently. “Like this.” Then, he took a long length of her hair and tossed it up towards the beam of her tower’s ceiling. It fell grievously short. Jack tried again and this time managed to get it up over the beam. Then, in a gust of cold wind, he flew up to beam, perched there, and gestured for Rapunzel to follow. 

The look of doubt left her face like a shadow being banished by the light. She smiled up at him, grabbed the length of hair, tossed it, somehow managed not to rip it out of her own head, and climbed up after him. Within moments, she was sitting on the beam beside him, giggling happily. “You know,” she said, eyeing the stretches of bare wall that she hadn’t been able to reach before, “now I can paint up here too.” 

Then, she leaned in close, her shoulder brushing warmly against his. Jack turned his head to look at her, to smile at her, and their faces were so close. Her warm breath mingled with his cool exhalations, steaming between them in a way that almost felt tangible. She gazed into his eyes for a long moment without speaking and Jack didn’t dare break the silence.

Rapunzel finally spoke. “Tell me, Jack, about some of the things you’ve seen out there.”

Jack wet his lips. The Man in the Moon help him because all he could suddenly think of were things he had seen on Valentine’s Day. He was sure Rapunzel would like to hear about them, but maybe not right now. Maybe not when their faces were inches away and they were alone in her tower, perched on a rafter in the middle of stifling summer. Jack tried to blame the fumbling in his mind on the heat—on the heat of Rapunzel’s skin and hands, on the warmth of her breath.

Jack quickly spit out, “Have you heard of Valentine’s Day?”

Rapunzel’s brow wrinkled. “Not really. What is it?”

“It’s a holiday that takes place on February fourteenth.”

“A holiday for what?” Rapunzel asked. 

Jack wet his lips. “It’s for… people who are in love.”

Rapunzel’s green eyes shimmered. “Love?” and she spoke the word like a secret that could only be shared between the two of them. 

He nodded, was tempted to reach out to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear, but held it back. He was always too tempted to touch her, to remind himself that someone could see him and talk to him and believe in him. She never minded. She was probably just as desperate and lonely as he was, even if she hid it better. 

“Yeah,” Jack continued. “Couples give each other candy or flowers or cards to show their love. They go for walks together, hand in hand. They go someplace special and romantic. I’ve seen them… kissing, too.” (Jack had seen them do far more than kiss, but he wasn’t ready to tell Rapunzel about that yet.)

“Kiss?” she asked softly.

Jack didn’t often think about just how isolated she was in this tower, but it was at times like this when that knowledge came back to smack him in the face and he was left to explain something that he didn’t have words for. “Yeah,” he scrambled. “They, um, put their lips together.”

“And that’s a good thing?” Rapunzel asked, pursing her lips cutely and crossing her eyes to look down at them.

Jack chuckled. “Yeah, it is,” he said. 

Rapunzel met his gaze again and smiled. Then, she leaned dreamily against his side, her nose brushing his lightly. “That sounds wonderful,” she sighed out. “Will you spend Valentine’s Day with me, Jack?”

He nodded because he would never be able to deny her anything. He smiled at her, took her hand, and squeezed it. Her skin was so warm and soft, so alive and wonderful, that it nearly drove Jack to his knees. To hide how he felt, he quickly flew up to the next rafter and hung there by his knees. “Come on, Rapunzel,” he called to her.

She didn’t hesitate, taking another length of her hair and tossing it up so she could climb after him. She looked freer than she ever had, Jack thought as he watched her climb up. If only she would let him take her out into the world and show her everything she was missing. 

If only she could really be free.

If only she could really be with him.

…

Jack was on his way to Rapunzel’s when he heard several people talking about the delicious chameleon-fry that was held every Saturday at the Snuggly Duckling. Since he had never heard of it before and everyone was talking about it so excitedly, he decided to slip inside and snag some for himself and Rapunzel.

The inside of the Snuggly Duckling was stifling and smelly. It was packed to the brim with ruffians and thugs and Jack was suddenly very aware of just how wrongly-named this place was. Women in low-cut corsets milled throughout, giggling from too-much beer, and there was an accordion-player in a feathered hat slumped in the corner by the fire. Jack slipped among all the people in a dizzying array of acrobatic bends so as not to be walked right through. 

Jack had never been in a place like this before and began looking at it closely so he could tell Rapunzel all about it. There was a low bar along one end, one of its taps bizarrely outfitted with a cute duckling, and countless tables mashed around it. Weapons were hung around like coats and Wanted Posters lined the walls. Wow, there really were a lot of criminals in this area. Maybe (as much as he hated to admit it) Gothel was right to be keeping Rapunzel locked away, safe and sound, in her little tower.

He dodged around a massive man with a tankard of beer and made his way to the great pot that was bubbling away in the corner. A man was sitting behind it, stirring it slowly, adding ingredients and spices. Jack peeked in, but wasn’t impressed by what was bubbling away in the pot. It looked a little like mud with a few potatoes and carrots bobbing around like boats. It didn’t look like it had anything to do with chameleons, either. Maybe it was just as wrongly-named as the entire building.

Snuggly Duckling, indeed, Jack thought.

Jack was just about to leave when an ugly woman brought a large cage of bright green chameleons from the back room. They had bright little eyes, cute curly tails, and small hands that clung to the bars of the cage like human prisoners. Most of them had begun to turn a dark frightened color rather than the color of spring the reminded Jack of Rapunzel’s eyes. Sharply, he looked from the little creatures back to the bubbling pot in horror.

Everyone in the Snuggly Duckling would wonder for years to come why exactly they had been cursed by an indoor blizzard. They would also wonder why said indoor blizzard would steal their favorite delicacy—all the little chameleons—and make off with them. After a lot of head-scratching, the ruffians let it go and had more beer instead. Corona always had been known to have strange weather. Ever since a drop of sunlight fell to earth and bloomed into a magical golden flower, no one really questioned anything anymore.

Jack arrived at Rapunzel’s tower shortly after that. He had one tiny chameleon tucked into the pocket of his cloak and had released all the others into the forest. He slipped in through the open window and looked around for Mother Gothel.

Thankfully, only Rapunzel was home. She was sitting in a chair by the fire, sewing a bundle of blue fabric with rapt concentration.

“Hey Rapunzel,” Jack called to her.

For a moment, she didn’t even look up from what she was working on and Jack’s heart dropped into his stomach like lead. Had her belief gone? Was he invisible to her again? But then, she turned and smiled at him and he realized she was just working very hard.

“What are you making?” he asked.

She smiled mysteriously. “Something for you,” she said.

Jack couldn’t help his smile. He had been bringing Rapunzel things for weeks and weeks, but he had never really gotten a present from her. He wondered what she had made for him, but he didn’t really care. He would love anything that she gave him.

Triumphantly, Rapunzel held up the mess of blue fabric and revealed it to be a sort of long-sleeved shirt with a hood and a front pocket. “Do you like it?” she asked, nervous despite the beaming smile that had split Jack’s face.

“Like it?” he said. “I love it!” 

Jack immediately closed the space between them and gathered her up in his cool embrace, hugging her close and burying his face against the side of her neck. She smelled of cookies and flowers, delicious and wonderful. She shivered in delight and returned the hug whole-heartedly. 

“Try it on,” she said after he released her.

Jack quickly pulled off his deer-skin cloak (which even he had to admit had seen better days) followed by his white shirt and worn vest. They all had holes in them in various places. Some holes had even regenerated through places he had patched before. The air of the tower was warm on his skin, but Rapunzel’s touch was like a low flame. He stilled, bare-chested, the blue shirt held in his hands.

“Rapunzel?”

She made a soft sound in her throat, but didn’t really respond. Her fingers trailed lightly down his back, over the contours of the muscles and the curvature of his ribs. She stepped closer, so close that he could feel the heat of her body against his. Her hand snaked around from behind, pressing lightly over his stomach and gliding up to his sternum. He shivered beneath the warm touch—it was like nothing he had ever felt before.

“Rapunzel?” he whispered.

She jolted as if she had been touched by an electric eel and quickly withdrew her hand. “I’m sorry,” she said abruptly. “I don’t know what came over me.”

Jack swallowed, suddenly wishing he hadn’t spoken to interrupt her. “It’s okay,” he murmured instead.

For a long moment, they just stared at each other in a clash of spring-green and ice-blue. Then, Jack realized his cloak was moving and making little sounds and Rapunzel might notice and be freaked out at any given second. He cleared his throat, pulled on his new hooded shirt, and reached down to pluck the tiny chameleon from his cloak. 

He disguised the little reptile in his hands as he turned to her and said, “I have a present for you too, Rapunzel.”

She smiled beautifully. “Oh?”

Jack opened his hands.

She squealed in delight. “Oh gosh, he’s so cute!” She held out her hands and Jack easily slipped the chameleon into her palms. “He’s for me?”

Jack nodded. “Yeah. I snatched him from a nasty restaurant. Apparently, chameleons are a delicacy.”

Rapunzel gasped and cradled the little creature against her cheek. “No, no,” she said. “That’s just not right. He’s too cute.”

“Sure,” Jack joked. “He looks good enough to eat.”

Rapunzel slid him a look and Jack could have sworn the chameleon stuck its tongue out at him.

“What are you going to name him?” Jack asked her.

“I don’t know,” Rapunzel said thoughtfully. “What would you name him, Jack? And if you say, ‘Dinner,’ I’ll punch you.”

Jack laughed and then pressed his fingers to his chin as he thought. “Hmm, how about Pascal?”

Rapunzel lifted a brow.

“You have no room to talk about strange names, young lady,” Jack chastised. 

She giggled. “True, but why Pascal?”

Jack rolled his shoulders. “I don’t know. It means Easter. (1)”

Rapunzel looked at the little chameleon for a moment as if they were sharing some sort of psychic link that Jack found a little creepy. “Alright,” she said finally. “I think he likes it. Don’t you, Pascal?”

Pascal made another face. 

Jack wrinkled his nose, prepared to snap at the chameleon, when Rapunzel leaned in and pressed her lips lightly to his cheek in a gesture that could only be described as a kiss. Jack turned his head quickly to look at her and she met his eyes without embarrassment. 

“Thank you,” she said, “for everything.”

X X X

(1) This is true. According to the Disney Wiki, Pascal means “(relating to) Easter.”

Questions, comments, concerns?


	3. I Just Want To Stay

Men and boys, avert your tender eyes. We’re going to talk about womanly things now. (At least for a little bit…)

X X X

Weeks stretched into months and then months stretched into years. Rapunzel grew older and even prettier while Jack stayed just the same. Sometimes, he wished he could grow older with her, age with her, live with her, but knew that was impossible. He was a spirit, after all, perpetually frozen in the state of his death. He was thin and pale with snowy hair and pale eyes—that would never change. He forced himself to be happy with what he had. He had a lot to be happy about, after all. He had Rapunzel.

Rapunzel, on the other hand, wished that she could stop this senseless passage of time. Her hair grew ever longer even if she had learned to cope with its weight and tangles. Other things were harder to learn to cope with. Womanhood was visited upon her like a plague. Her budding breasts turned into ripe peaches and once a month, there was blood that just wouldn’t stop. Mother Gothel explained to Rapunzel what was happening with more care than Jack would have ever given her credit for, but then she was quickly gone from the tower as always.

Tonight, Jack was lying in Rapunzel’s bed with her, his cool hands resting lightly on her lower belly, soothing away the cramps. She sighed softly, her eyes closed, and burrowed into his embrace as if she could absorb his ability to not age. Pascal was sitting on her pillow, his tail curled cutely.

“This sucks, Jack,” Rapunzel said bitterly.

“It’ll be over soon, won’t it?” Jack asked. “Just a few more days?”

She nodded into his shoulder, but didn’t seem comforted by that. Finally, she grumbled, “Then it will be back next month, and the month after that, and the month after that…”

Jack stroked her pale golden hair, trying to comfort her with the cool of his body. “Do you want me to bring you something?”

She nodded. “How about something we can do sitting down? I hate walking around. It just makes the pain worse.”

Jack tucked her head beneath his chin and said, “Sure. I can do that.”

She smiled against his skin, her fingers knotting in his blue sweater. “You’re the best, Jack.”

He didn’t mention that she had nothing to compare him to. He just held her tighter, feeling like there was a ticking clock somewhere, counting down the time they had together. What would he do if he came one day and Rapunzel couldn’t see him? Time was passing so quickly, too quickly.

“Jack?”

“Yeah.”

“Promise me you’ll always come see me,” Rapunzel whispered.

“I promise,” Jack said without hesitation.

She squeezed her arms around him a little tighter, her fingers stroking over the curve of his ribcage. Then, with a soft breath, she fell into a peaceful sleep. Jack stayed with her a while longer, just enjoying the close press and heat of her body. Around midnight, he untangled himself from her arms, covered her with her quilt, gave Pascal a little pet, and flew out the window.

…

Jack returned the next day and moped about impatiently while Mother Gothel got ready to leave (again). Finally, the black-haired woman was lowered down the rope of Rapunzel’s long hair and Rapunzel was his. He hugged her, pressing his nose into the side of her neck and breathing her in.

“That tickles,” she protested, but didn’t push him away.

He grinned. “I brought you something, as requested,” he said and dumped a mess of boxes all over the tower floor.

Rapunzel dropped to her knees, groaning a little bit, but too excited to see what Jack had brought. She sorted through the boxes, opening some to peek inside, and pushing others aside completely. When she opened a puzzle and found nothing but a mess of pieces inside, she looked curiously into Jack’s face. “What’s this?”

“A puzzle,” he said.

She dumped out all the pieces unceremoniously all over the floor and rooted through them. “Is it broken?” she asked.

“No,” Jack said with a laugh. “You have to put it together.”

“Why?”

“Because that’s the whole point,” he said. “Look, like this.” He lay on his stomach beside her, feet in the air, and sorted through the puzzle. It took a few moments, but then he found two pieces that fit and pressed them into place. 

“Neat!” Rapunzel exclaimed. “Let’s do it!”

Jack fetched some pillows and they made a veritable fort on the floor, spreading out the puzzle pieces willy-nilly. Pascal came to get in the way, blending in with the parts of the puzzle that they had already finished. As they worked, Jack glanced over at Rapunzel from the corner of his eye. It was so cute the way she caught her lower lip between her teeth when she was thinking very hard. Suddenly, he found himself thinking of what he had told her so long ago about Valentine’s Day and kissing. He flushed at the memory, Rapunzel looked over at him, and he was caught.

“Um,” he began. 

“What are you thinking about?” she asked and reached out to touch his face, brushing a thin veil of frost from his cheeks.

Jack blushed harder, frost covering his cheeks in a new wave. “Nothing.”

She looked at him sternly.

“Just about… kissing you,” Jack confessed finally because he couldn’t keep anything from her. How long ago had it been since she had taken her clothes off in front of him to try on her new dress? She still did it, but Jack was finding it harder and harder to avert his eyes each time. 

Rapunzel gazed at him for a long moment. “Do you want to?” she asked finally.

Jack nodded.

“Then why don’t you?”

He didn’t need more urging than that. 

Jack closed the small space between them, his cold lips softly pressing to her warm ones. Rapunzel made a soft sound and reached out to cup his face between her hands. The frost on his cheeks melted with the heat of her touch, running cool and damp down his neck. When her lips parted easily, Jack couldn’t resist the unspoken invitation to delve into her. She tasted like cookies, so sweet, and he tried to draw her into him as well. His cool hands cupped her shoulders, ran down her back, and pressed her close. She dissolved into him, melting like snow in summer sun. 

Jack would have liked to think they would have stayed like that forever with Mother Gothel hadn’t chosen that exact moment to return and call for Rapunzel to let down her hair. 

…

Gothel stayed home for a few days after that, keeping Jack and Rapunzel from doing anything fun, but Jack was still there. He hung with Rapunzel in her room at night after Gothel went to bed and they talked for hours while they played countless games. Jack taught Rapunzel how to play chess and she was soon kicking his butt left and right. He taught her how to play darts, too, but it proved to be something only he was good at and she more often than not just put a myriad of tiny holes in the wall.

Winter was coming to Corona and Jack was a little busy bringing the season to full fruition, but he brought Rapunzel things she could do without him. He brought her a guitar, but couldn’t teach her much about it since he was only slightly more musical than a blizzard. Rapunzel was happy enough to just make sounds with it, strumming away with more passion than skill. It still sounded beautiful to him, but then, everything she did was beautiful to him.

Jack showed her how the people in the city made papier-mâché apples and decorations and masks that frightened Pascal. He brought her bunches of yarn and taught her how to knit. She took to it like a fish does to water and soon had a scarf as long as her hair. He brought her a melting pot and some wax so she could make candles that she scented with everything from flowers to chocolates. Chunks of heavy clay were harder to fly up to the tower, but Jack did it for her—to see the smile on her face.

Pascal proved to be quite the companion when Jack was not around as well. He was willing to do anything for Rapunzel, just like Jack was, and Jack began to wonder if he had somehow managed to give the little creature a part of himself. Pascal sat patiently on Rapunzel’s lap and let her pull his tail, opening his mouth so she could pretend to be his voice. Ventriloquy was a little creepy, Jack had to admit, and it was one of the only things he didn’t like to watch Rapunzel do.

When he finished laying down snow and shining icicles, he always came back to Rapunzel’s tower as cold as the snowflakes. He let her fuss over him, bringing him hot cocoa and sitting with him by the fireside until he was a little more room-temperature. 

Rapunzel was humming sweetly, leaned up against his shoulder, pretending Mother Gothel wasn’t right upstairs. 

Jack set aside his mug of cooling cocoa and turned his head to face her. She was studiously trying not to look at him, but there was anticipation in her eyes. He gazed at her for a moment, letting her want for him increase until her cheeks were flushed with it. Only then did he kiss her. He kissed her long and deep, his hands and arms pulling her into his body like a castle. She tangled herself in his embrace, in his lap, in his kiss, so that nothing could ever take them apart.

He let the kiss slide apart after a long moment. Rapunzel looked into his eyes, her lips curved into a content happy smile.

“Hum a little more,” Jack said suddenly.

“What? Why?” she asked.

“I want to show you something I saw in town today.”

“What?” 

“There was a Winter Festival,” he said as he pulled her to her feet. “Now, just hum.”

Rapunzel looked doubtful but also curious. She began to hum, the song jovial and light, and Jack took her in his arms. He was graceful because of the wind and the winter inside him, but he was surprised by how light Rapunzel was in his arms. Maybe it was because they trusted each other so wholly—no secrets, nothing untouchable, nothing separating them. 

She twirled easily with him, moving to the music of an unseen band. She laughed as he twirled her, catching her by the waist and lifting her over his head. Her hair twisted all around them, wrapping them in their own little world. Jack hummed with her, moving her through the steps of the dance he had seen in the city that day. They felt like twin snowflakes, unique and yet so similar. 

Rapunzel wouldn’t tell Jack, but she felt like a snowflake in his hands. She felt light and beautiful and unique. The way Mother Gothel talked to her—calling her chubby, underdressed, and sloppy—seemed miles away. She melted into Jack, feeling like one of those girls he told her about. She felt like a princess, like a lover, like everything to him.

She looked up into his eyes and saw the same feelings reflected back. She kissed him then, pouring everything she felt into it and hoping he could taste only a fraction of what she felt inside. Jack pulled her close, his hands cool through her clothes, and his kiss tasted of freedom and him. She sighed, clinging to him tightly as the world fell away.

“Rapunzel?” came Gothel’s voice from the top of the stairs. “What are you doing?”

Rapunzel jerked away from Jack, her hand going to her mouth as if evidence of their kiss lingered. “Nothing,” she said.

Gothel eyed her suspiciously, but didn’t say anything further. (She had stopped asking about where all Rapunzel’s gifts came from a long time ago. Jack suspected she either didn’t notice or didn’t care, mainly the former.) She turned away and went back to her room.

“Sorry,” Rapunzel said to Jack.

“It’s not your fault,” he said. “It’d probably be harder to explain if she could actually see me. I mean, how would you explain this hair?”

“My hair magically glows and heals things when I sing? Do you think white hair is that strange anymore?”

Jack burst out laughing and his laugh was contagious. Soon, Rapunzel was laughing along with him. Her voice echoed against the walls of the tower and flew out into the night like light. Gothel came to check on her again, her dark eyebrow lifted with more annoyance than concern. After that, Jack and Rapunzel retired to her bedroom where they quietly lay together and just kissed softly.

…

Rapunzel’s birthday came in the middle of summer and since she was turning sixteen this year, Jack wanted to get her something really special. (He knew from eavesdropping on everyone’s conversations that turning sixteen was a big deal. A lot of people even called it Sweet Sixteen and had big blowouts for their kids.) He especially wanted to get Rapunzel something great because he knew Gothel wasn’t going to get her anything. Most of the time, Rapunzel had to remind the black-haired woman that it even was her birthday.

But Jack would never forget.

In the seaside city of Corona, it was very busy as well. Apparently, it was the birthday of the princess who had been stolen right out of the palace sixteen years ago. Jack chased away the similarities and tried to tell himself this was why Gothel kept Rapunzel under such close wraps in that tower. Though it didn’t seem like it to him, maybe the world really was dangerous. Jack floated through the crowded city, peering into stalls and shops, trying to find something perfect for Rapunzel. 

But nothing jumped out at him.

Nothing was special enough.

So, Jack decided to take advantage of the fact that he had magical powers and the fact that he could circumnavigate the whole world in a matter of hours. For Rapunzel, he would do anything—and that statement was truer than anything else. He took to the skies above Corona, hitched a ride on the North Wind, and was off on his quest. 

Rapunzel was waiting at the window among her flowering plants when Jack flew in and he knew just by the look on her face that Mother Gothel had gone out without a word of Rapunzel’s birthday. Pascal was a sad shade of blue on Rapunzel’s shoulder, but he brightened when Jack landed.

“Jack,” Rapunzel breathed out and smiled.

He pressed a light kiss to her lips. “Happy Sweet Sixteen,” he said and told her just how special her birthday was (according to what he had overheard).

“Thank you,” she said and tried to deepen the kiss.

Jack pushed her back lightly, smirking. “First, a present.” Then, he produced a medium-sized box wrapped in pretty paper with a monster-sized bow that even Santa Claus would be proud of.

“Another present?” she asked, tucking her hands against his chest without taking the box. 

Jack grinned at her. “I like to give you presents, don’t ruin my fun,” he said.

She took the box then and sat down on the sill to open it. She tucked the bow into her hair and then took off the lid. For a moment, she just stared at the strange articles of clothing inside. Finally, she plucked the bra out and put it over her head. “What is it?”

Jack laughed. “It’s actually something for,” and he cupped invisible melons at his chest level.

Rapunzel flushed hotly. “Why would you give me something for those?”

“Because I know you don’t have one already and I knew it would make you blush.” He leaned down, his lips ghosting cool over her heated cheeks, and Rapunzel couldn’t be angry at him. The cheeky bastard, he had known she would cave if he kissed her.

“Well, you were right,” she said, “but did you see this coming?” With that, she rose from her perch on the sill, untied the bow at the top of her dress, and let it drop to pool at her feet. Jack was right—she didn’t have any bras—and she stood before him in only her panties.

Jack blushed frost and quickly looked away. “Rapunzel!”

She laughed and slid the straps of the bra over her arms, holding the cups over her small breasts. “Here, put it on me,” she said and turned to give Jack her naked back.

He swallowed, trying to keep his eyes above the swell of her backside, as he fastened the small clasp of the bra. Rapunzel moved across the room in a wave of golden hair and looked at herself in the mirror. She ran her fingertips lightly over the swell of her breasts in awe. 

“I look pretty, don’t I?” she asked him.

Jack stepped up behind her, his hair and eyes standing out in the shadows of the tower. “You always do,” he said. 

Then, he wrapped his arms around her from behind and rested his chin on the top of her head. They stood like that for a long time, absorbing the feeling of each other’s bodies. Occasionally, Jack pressed kisses to the nape of her neck, sending shivers down her spine. Other times, his cool hands ran down her sides and across her stomach. Sometimes, Rapunzel wished he would touch her in places that she had no name for. A few times, she nearly took his wrist and guided his hands to where she wanted to feel his touch most, but she never did. 

They looked good together, she thought as she looked at their reflections in the mirror. Jack’s skin was white-pale like freshly-fallen snow to her golden skin and their hair was just the same. She loved how his hands looked against her bare skin, against the pale purple satin of her panties and new bra. But most of all, she loved the bright ice-blue of his eyes in comparison to her own spring-green orbs. They were like the sun and the moon, she thought.

Then, she saw them and nearly knocked Jack over in her haste to turn.

“There they are!” she exclaimed and pulled him eagerly to the window, looking out at the sky.

It took Jack a moment to tear his eyes from her and look where she was pointing. 

“Are they stars, Jack?” she asked.

He shook his head.

“What are they?”

“Wouldn’t you like to find out for yourself?”

Rapunzel nodded.

Jack stepped onto the sill and held out his hand, never mind that she was in her underwear. “Come with me,” he said. “I’ll take you.”

Though he had asked her once before, a long time ago, to come away with him into the world, Rapunzel didn’t expect it now. For a moment, she just stared at him, at his hand, and her first instinct was to accept and let him pull her away. Mother Gothel was gone anyway. Did it matter if she left? But…

“Isn’t it dangerous?” she asked instead.

Jack lowered himself to sit beside her, already knowing her answer. “I’ll be with you,” was all he said and that was as good as admitting that everything Gothel said about the world was true. Jack was a spirit, already dead, and he had no true perception of how dangerous people could be. He didn’t even know how he had died.

“Be with me here,” Rapunzel said and leaned into his embrace. Her clothes lay beneath them and his cool hands once again roamed her bare skin as they watched the not-stars rise into the night sky. They were beautiful, floating like the tiny fireflies that swarmed the forest in early summer. Jack had caught some in a jar for her a few times.

Jack breathed out softly against the back of her neck.

“Someday,” Rapunzel said to him, “someday I’ll go with you to see them.”

“You promise?” he asked.

After a moment, she nodded. “But not tonight.”

“I can settle for that,” he said and rested his chin on her shoulder. 

His cool breath stirred against her ear, making her giggle. She turned in his embrace, tearing her eyes from the not-stars for just a moment. She slipped her hands beneath the blue sweater she had made for him so long ago and felt his cool bare skin. Jack let her touch, let her feel, let her absorb. When she tugged at the hem, he lifted his arms and let her take the article of clothing off him. For a moment, she only gazed at him. Then, she turned back to the not-stars and reclined against his naked chest. Everywhere their bare skin touched was like a firework going off. It was light and heat and wonderful.

Rapunzel sighed as he kissed her.

They watched the not-stars for hours, until the last one floated out of sight and the sky was dark and still. Jack’s skin was almost warm beneath her own, as if her heart had warmed him, and she was comfortably cool even in the blistering summer heat. Then, Rapunzel broke the perfect silence that had spread between them in the wake of their kiss. 

“I really want to see them, Jack.”

He didn’t say that he would take her. He didn’t offer to help her run away. He didn’t say anything. For that, she was grateful.

“Do you think I’d be okay if I went out in the world?”

“I’m sure you will be,” he said softly. “I think… most of the people in the world are good. There are dangers everywhere, but… I really think most people are good.”

“What about ruffians and thugs? All those men in the Wanted Posters?”

Jack eyed his staff, thinking of when other spirits had tried to attack him because he was so alone and unseen. “If someone tries to give you a hard time, you just have to show them you’re not someone to be messed with. Give them a good whack with something. That usually works.”

“Whack them?” Rapunzel repeated.

Jack nodded. “Sure! A good frying pan might do the trick.”

She giggled and then asked seriously, “And if whacking them doesn’t work?”

“Just tell them the truth, Rapunzel. Tell them yours dreams. Sing them one of those beautiful songs of yours.”

She eyed him doubtfully, flushing slightly at the praise.

“I think you’d be surprised to see what just talking can solve. Like I said, I think people are mostly good. I think they understand when you just talk to them.” 

“Has that worked for you, Jack?” she asked, tilting her head back against his shoulder in a whisper of warm hair so she could look up at him.

“Sometimes,” he said and then flicked her nose lightly with the tip of his finger. “But I’m not as cute as you.”

She giggled again, batting away his hand and settling deeper against his bare chest. “Someday,” she said again, softly, dreamily.

Jack nodded into her golden hair. Then, he whispered, “Happy Birthday, Rapunzel.”

X X X

Questions, comments, concerns?

REVIEW!


	4. I Just Want to Keep This Dream in Me

Here’s the lemon you’ve all been waiting for. Enjoy the happiness!

X X X

Jack blew into Rapunzel’s tower at dusk, the fading light catching on the frost that clung to his hair and skin. He searched quickly for Gothel, didn’t find her, but did find Pascal attempting to disguise himself as a flower so he could drop down on Jack’s head as he passed by. Jack put the little creature on his shoulder and made his way to Rapunzel’s room. She wasn’t in it.

“Rapunzel?” he called. “Where are you?”

“In the bathroom,” came her answer. 

“Should I come back later?”

“No, you can come in. I’m taking a bath and I could use some company.”

Jack put aside his staff and turned the knob gingerly, easing the door open with Pascal breathing in his ear. True to form, Rapunzel was lying in the bathtub. Her lean legs were resting over the rim like the petals of a flower and her hair was coiled neatly in the corner of the small room. She was reclined comfortably against the porcelain, bubbles and rose petals obscuring her nudity. Jack wasn’t sure whether to be grateful or disgruntled. Rapunzel giggled, her cheeks going pink and her lips curving into a smile.

“Did I say that out loud?” he asked.

“No,” she said, “but what you’re thinking is written all over your face.”

Thankfully, the steaming heat of the enclosed bathroom kept frost from forming on Jack’s cheeks in his own flush. 

“Care to join me?” she asked after a moment.

Jack pressed a hand through the bubbles and dipped his fingertips into the warm water. It cooled instantly at his touch and he declined politely. Instead, he perched on the vanity and just watched her, imagining what it would be like when all the bubbles were gone.

“Jack,” Rapunzel said.

He met her eyes and they were like jewels. His voice was hoarse when he answered, “Yeah?”

“Kiss me.”

Jack would never deny her. He would never deny her anything, especially if it was within his power to give. So, he knelt beside the tub and leaned in, pressing his lips over hers like he had countless time before. She melted into him, her wet hands coming up to slide through his hair and frost crackled as she did so. Jack smiled against her lips, letting his tongue snake out to dance with hers. She made a soft sound of bliss, pulling him closer until he was nearly inside the tub with her. 

Then, so slowly that Jack barely noticed, she took his hand and guided it. Jack felt the heat of the water and then felt it cool and didn’t pay much attention. He was too busy kissing her, feeling every inch of her mouth with his own. Then, he felt her warm bare flesh and it wasn’t like the skin of her shoulder or hip or belly. He gave a little experimental squeeze and Rapunzel moaned softly against his lips. Without breaking the kiss, he explored. Then, he realized what he was touching as his thumb rasped over a raised nub and she made that delighted sound again.

He pulled away, looking into her flushed face. “Rapunzel?”

She closed her hand over his. “I want this,” she said. “I want you.”

“Do you even know what you’re asking for?” he whispered. The question echoed in his head, twisted itself back at him. Did he know what she wanted? Did he know what this was? Seeing was nothing compared to actually feeling her bare skin beneath his fingers and feeling the beat of her heart.

Rapunzel nodded, looking more sure than he felt. 

“Tell me,” Jack whispered. “Then, tell me.”

She tilted her chin, catching his lips in the lightest kiss. “I don’t have the words, Jack,” she murmured into him. “But that doesn’t matter. I feel it in my heart and in my body.”

Jack wasn’t sure what he wanted to protest, but his mouth opened anyway. “But—”

“It doesn’t matter,” she interrupted gently. “None of it matters. The only thing that matters is this… is us…”

He pressed down against her, kissing her deeply. 

Throughout his years of immortal life, he had seen plenty of people going at it when they thought no one was looking. He had seen it done quickly, skirts pulled up and pants merely unbuttoned. He had spied through windows to see lovers in tangles of silk sheets and roses. He had seen everything and, though he had been embarrassed to watch, he had and he remembered. Even so, nothing he had seen compared to touching Rapunzel.

Her skin was like silk, soft and warm and lightly freckled in places. Jack’s cool fingers made a path down her chest, experimenting, feeling her reactions and the beat of her heart. When he dipped into the heat between her legs, she tilted her head back and whispered something that might have once been his name. He smiled into their kiss, pressing deep against that secret place of hers even as the water cooled all around her.

She turned in the tub and wrapped her damp arms around him, pulling him close. Frost froze and connected them, but Rapunzel didn’t want any space between them anyway. She slipped her hands beneath his blue shirt and tugged it over his head, running her fingers down the faint lines of his muscles and leaving light frost in their wake. He stroked purposefully against her little pearl and she cried out, pressing his shirt to her face to muffle the sounds. Jack gently pulled the fabric away and kissed her.

When they broke for air, he whispered, “Let me hear you. Say my name.”

“Jack,” she murmured and her eyes were like new leaves. 

Then, she hooked her toes around the plug of the tub and tugged it free. The water made a strange sound as it swirled away and Rapunzel slipped out of the tub like a beam of misplaced sunlight. Jack was already kneeling beside and she slid into his lap, her bare legs moving on either side of his hips. With lives of their own, his hands reached to touch her, sliding up her back and around her hips. The moisture on her body turned to frost with his proximity and she shivered.

Jack smiled lightly. “Let’s get you dried off.”

He could tell she wanted to protest, but he ran his fingertips lightly over her nipple and the water there froze immediately. She shivered, yelping softly at the feeling.

“Unless you like that,” he teased, circling his finger around the raised little peak.

She flushed and closed her eyes, but then she slowly nodded.

Jack couldn’t help the little bubble of excitement that welled in his chest. He and Rapunzel had always been close, even when they had first met. They had been too lonely to allow anything to become a barrier between them. As time passed, they were both alone with only the other. When he kissed her that first time, he had always wondered if she would let him get closer. He wondered if she feared his powers over winter, but she never said anything about the way he sometimes blushed frost or accidentally froze her drink.

When they lay together into the window sill on her sixteenth birthday, she in her underwear and he wearing only his pants, those questions had redoubled. They were getting closer, kissing for longer and longer periods, touching each other. Even though things hadn’t gone far yet, Jack wondered if they would—if they even could. He was a spirit after all and his skin was always several shades cooler than hers. He wasn’t sure she could ever accept him, ever truly accept him, for what he was. 

But now, as she confessed that she liked the feeling of the water frosting over on her body, Jack knew she loved him as much as either of them was able to.

“Jack,” she whispered.

He realized he had been staring at her, his fingertips still lightly resting on her nipple. “Yeah?”

“Unless you don’t want to… with me…”

Jack stared at her for a moment, his mouth hanging open with shock. Beyond his own doubts, he had never suspected that Rapunzel might have doubts of her own. Did she wonder if he had a little honey spirit on the side that he saw when he wasn’t with her? Did she think that he wouldn’t want to be with her because she was a human? 

“Don’t be silly,” he whispered, pulling her bare chest flush against his own and running his hands down the curtain of her hair. “Rapunzel, I—”

She silenced him, kissing him, as if afraid to hear the words.

Jack didn’t push her. He would never push her.

After a long moment, she pushed herself back from him slightly and rose to her feet. He followed, taking her hand and leading her down the hallway to her bedroom. The tower was silent and still and night had fallen outside the windows. The moonlight played on Jack like a caress and fell through Rapunzel’s golden hair. 

After reeling in her long hair, she closed the curtain of her bedroom behind them and then stepped into the circle of his arms. Jack ran his hands down the curve of her back, cupping the swell of her behind. Even though his touch was cool, her skin was flushed and hot with desire. A sharply as she must have been able to feel every inch of his cold body, he could feel the burning heat of hers. 

“Jack,” she breathed out. 

She slipped her fingers into the waistband of his worn pants. He helped her untangled the knotted rope he used to hold them up, tugged them down, and stepped out of them. She gasped and her eyes widened at the sight of him. Embarrassed, he started to turn away, but she caught his hip and pulled him back.

“Sorry,” she whispered. “It’s just…”

Jack silenced her with a kiss, his understanding beyond all bounds. 

Timidly, she wrapped her hand around him and was slightly surprised to find this part of him was just as cool as the rest of his body. Her knees weakened at the thought of him inside her and a ball of warm anticipation settled low in her belly. Jack’s head tilted back when she touched him. Never had he felt something so warm on his skin. He was so sensitive to her every touch and stroke as she began to run her fingers all along the length of him.

He kissed her, cool tongue darting into the warm cavern of her mouth. Rapunzel pulled him back towards her bed, leading him gingerly, and then fell back against the quilt in a cascade of golden hair. He came above her, bracing his weight on his hands and elbows, deepening the kiss until she could hardly think to continue stroking him. Jack groaned and a little tremor passed through his body as she touched him. She was delighted to have such control over the very incarnation of winter.

His cool chest brushed against her raised nipples and she cried out softly. The heat of her body had melted the frost that had formed when she got out of the bathtub, but the liquid continued to refreeze with Jack’s closeness. The sensation was so strange and wonderful. Her thighs felt like warm butter, weak and soaking up every inch of him. She slid her legs apart, wrapping them around his hips, and there was a coolness against her very core.

Jack’s hips moved against her hand, against her body, with passion that almost made him warm. She threw her head back in bliss, closing her eyes. He pressed a kiss to the bared column of her throat, sucking and nipping lightly with his teeth until she trembled. Then, his hand dipped between her legs and cupped the hottest part of her body. He felt like ice against her there and she gasped, writhing beneath him at the strange sensations. 

“J-Jack,” she pleaded.

She still held him in her hand and guided him to where his fingers were. He took control, pressing the head of himself against her very core. She was wet and so warm, he was cold and hard yet still so soft. With the same tenderness he had always shown her, Jack pushed into her body. Rapunzel made a soft sound, a single tear squeezing from her eye at the strange stretch that filled her body to the brim. She let her breath out as he slid into her. 

Then, he was settled inside and he was cool within her. She moaned softly, rolling her hips, feeling everything. The sheath of her muscles was burning hot to Jack, so hot that he almost couldn’t bear it. Something was building inside him, something that he didn’t want to let go of quite yet, just from the heat of her. A thin sheen of frost spread over her coverlet from his hands. Slowly, they each let their breath out, hot and cold mingling until it was almost steam.

“Jack,” she whispered. She clung to him, her fingers raking his naked back and pressing him close. “Jack.”

He rocked his hips into her, the cool shaft of him rubbing against her hot insides in a way that felt like heaven. Her mouth fell open, lips parting into a little ‘o’ of wonder at the feeling. It felt so good, so good, and Jack moved a little faster. It felt even better like that and Rapunzel was gasping his name. He sped up, letting her feel just how much strength he had, but she just clung to him, panting and gasping. The sweat on her skin froze, turned to frost, and she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

When he came, it was cold inside her, but she wouldn’t have given it up for the world. Rapunzel cradled him against her breasts, wrapped in her arms and legs, held within her body, and she wished that this moment could last forever.

“Until the end of your life,” Jack whispered. Immortality was bitter, even now. “I’ll always be with you.”

“Even after,” Rapunzel told him softly. “Even after I’m gone, you’ll still be with me.”

He nodded, his hair soft against her skin.

She put her fingers through the silk, ran her hands down his back, and touched him like she never would again. Jack held her for just as long, moving only once to pull the blankets over Rapunzel’s nudity in case Gothel decided to check on her. She cuddled against him, kept cool even in summer’s heat by his body, and sighed softly. 

Jack just held her, soaking up the afterglow of this without ever closing his eyes. He wanted to remember this moment forever. He wanted to remember the fall of her endless hair, the shine of her skin, the constellations of the freckles on her shoulders, the way she still smiled. He would never forget this moment no matter how many centuries he lived through.

X X X

One more chapter, but if you don’t want to go through the angst, maybe you should stop here. This is the happy ending.

Questions, comments, concerns?


	5. I Would Have Loved You All My Life

And… this is where the title comes into play. I got the title idea from the beautiful song “Losing Your Memory” by Ryan Star. If you listen to it, you should probably grab a tissue.

X X X

There were other times that Jack and Rapunzel were together after that. It was better each time, but always held the same feeling it had the very first time. It felt as if the world was burning, but it didn’t matter so long as they had each other. Afterwards, they lay together, pressed close until they were nearly one body.

Jack was sleeping soundly, holding Rapunzel close against his chest, when she began to stir. At first, he thought she might have been just cold and released her from his arms, but she continued to squirm and fidget in her bed. Her naked breasts heaved as she began to breathe harder and harder.

Then, suddenly, she lurched up in bed. It was so sudden that Jack was nearly startled out of the bed. When she saw him, his hair and eyes glowing in the dark, she smiled with relief and fell into him. She trembled in his arms, her heart pounding against the cage of her ribs.

“What is it?” he asked.

“Nothing,” she said. “Just a nightmare.”

“You’ve been having more and more of them lately,” he whispered.

She nodded and then shook her head. “I’m sure it’s nothing. Maybe I shouldn’t have let you tell me scary stories.”

Jack grinned. “It’s always my fault, isn’t it?”

She nodded again and kissed him lightly. They made love again. Jack fell asleep soon after, his pale chest rising and falling peacefully. For the first time, Rapunzel lay awake, watching him, tracing her fingertips along his lips and throat. She couldn’t shake the feeling that something was terribly wrong.

She didn’t know why, but she felt that she would never see Jack again. That thought alone was enough to break her heart. She couldn’t imagine her tower—her life—without Jack in it? She brushed some of his white hair back from his eyes and pressed a kiss to his forehead.

Pascal was perched on the post of her bed, watching her with bright chameleon eyes. Maybe it was his animal sense or maybe it was just Rapunzel’s wishful thinking, but he looked worried for her and for Jack. He had even taken on a strange sad shade of blue.

“It’s nothing,” Rapunzel told Pascal. “Go to sleep.”

The next morning, she saw Jack off with a kiss that lingered too long. She didn’t want to let him go. Her heart was pounding, racing to the beat of some unknown song. She felt that if she let go, she would never see him again. She almost begged him to stay. Almost.

Jack hovered in the sky outside her tower a moment, looking at her with his bright eyes. He was smiling broadly, his staff tossed over his shoulders, the blue of his shirt complimenting his skin and eyes. “I’m going to bring a little snow to the Rockies,” he was saying. “They could use it.”

“Then you’ll be back?” Rapunzel asked. Her fingers knotted in her skirt. 

Jack nodded, dropped a kiss to her lips, and smiled.

Then, the North Wind was sweeping him up and away like a leaf in autumn. His laughter and the minty scent of him lingered, but soon that was gone. Rapunzel started going through her daily regimen. She cleaned, cooked, and did some laundry. Then, she set to doing the things Jack had taught her. She made a new purple dress, played chess with Pascal, painted, added a few inches to her knitted scarf, played guitar for a while, sang some songs, and reread her three boring books. Then, she went to the window and looked out.

Night had fallen. 

Jack did not come back.

Rapunzel went to bed with Pascal and tried to tell herself that it was nothing. Maybe Jack had gone and snowed himself in at the Rocky Mountains. That was exactly the kind of silly thing he’d do. Yes, Rapunzel told herself, he’d be back tomorrow with all his lame excuses and bright laughter. She was plagued with terrible nightmares that night and they only grew worse.

But Jack didn’t come the next day.

Nor did he come the next.

Nor the day after, nor the day after that, nor the day after that.

…

Rapunzel woke late in the morning, exhausted. Her nightmares had been getting worse. They were full of fear—fear that Jack was dead, that he was gone forever. She always saw him as a beautiful corpse, his white hair and skin standing out against the crimson. Other times, she saw him as a pile of dust or a swirl of frost. He was already a spirit, after all. Nothing could keep Rapunzel from these thoughts for long. She always found herself going to the window and found it empty of winter spirits each time. 

Jack was gone.

Maybe he was dead like he was in her nightmares.

Rapunzel sat with Pascal in the sill, looking out over the warm summer. She was hot, but Jack wasn’t here to keep her cool. Gothel had gone out, but Jack wasn’t here to make her laugh about it. At least, she had Pascal and for that she was grateful. She tried to busy herself with the things Jack had brought her over the years, but it felt like an impossible task.

Then, the unthinkable happened. 

Someone crashed into Rapunzel’s tower.

And someone actually had the guts to come in.

But that someone wasn’t Jack. Rapunzel took Jack’s advice, but she was too tired to talk right now so she just knocked him out with a frying pan. While he was unconscious, she tied him to a chair using her hair as rope because Jack had admitted that the world could be dangerous. When she found the crown, she didn’t think much of it and dumped it into a ceramic pot.

Life was short, Rapunzel thought. Even Jack, who was an immortal winter spirit, was gone. Rapunzel’s life was shorter and she already regretted that she hadn’t gone to see the world—hadn’t gone to see the not-stars with Jack on her birthday. But she wouldn’t let those regrets weigh her down forever. She was going to take matters into her own hands.

When the stranger woke up, he called himself Flynn Rider. 

Rapunzel strong-armed him into a deal that would have made Jack proud. (Having Pascal was almost like having Jack with her, encouraging her, helping her, protecting her as best he could.)

She made Flynn Rider promise to take her to see the lanterns in exchange for his crown. She swung herself over the sill with Pascal on her shoulder, gripping the lifeline of her long hair. The summer breeze was everything she had ever imagined. The grass, the trees, the flowers, the cool water that ran in a stream nearby—everything was wonderful. She only wished Jack was there with her, holding her hand and kissing her. But he wasn’t. Jack was gone.

Rapunzel left her tower behind with only Pascal and a frying pan tucked under her arm.

Flynn wasn’t exactly the easiest person to travel with, but he was tolerant of her mood swings. What could she say? She was leaving the tower for the very first time. Jack was gone. Mother Gothel was all she had left but she wasn’t sure how much that meant. So, yes, Rapunzel was a little overemotional. But Flynn was tolerant, sitting patiently while she screamed or cried or ran shrieking with happiness through the wilderness. She supposed, in a way, he reminded her of Jack. 

Rapunzel thought the name ‘Snuggly Duckling’ sounded familiar, but she didn’t place where she had heard it until she stepped inside and saw all the ruffians and the pot of stewed chameleons. Pascal seemed to remember too and ducked into her hair to hide. But, Rapunzel trusted and believed Jack among all else. Even when the ruffians claimed that Flynn was a crook and tried to snatch him away, Rapunzel didn’t give in. She tried to fight first because that was what Jack would have done. When that didn’t work, she tried talking and then singing.

“Jack was right,” she whispered under her breath as she walked the hidden underground path with Flynn.

“What?” he asked, looking over his shoulder with the lantern.

“Nothing,” she said and tucked some hair behind her ear.

When they came out on the other side, a collection of people who ‘didn’t like Flynn’ arrived. Rapunzel just used her hair as an extension of her arms and body. It was an easy matter to get herself and Flynn out of the sticky situation, not so easy was it to escape the caved-in tunnel as it steadily filled with water.

Rapunzel sat in the cold water, her hands pressed over her eyes. Tears began to stream down her cheeks. All she could think about was Jack—how she should have gone with him. He would have kept her safe. If he was with her, none of this would be happening. But she wasn’t with Jack. Jack was gone. Fresh tears rolled down her face, dripping between her fingers and into the cold water. If Jack was alive, what would he think when he returned to her tower and found her gone? That thought was enough to break her heart.

Flynn confessed his secrets to her, thinking this was the end, and it pulled her from her thoughts.

Rapunzel almost told him about Jack, about her love for the incarnation of winter, but instead she told him about her hair. Then, she used it to get them out. The sunlight was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen, but it wasn’t enough. She wanted to see the lanterns. She wanted to see Jack.

Flynn handled discovering she had magic healing hair about as well as could be expected. He screamed like a little girl and Rapunzel looked at him through her lashes. She could help but think of how Jack had reacted to the secret of her hair. But, she supposed, it was easier for a winter spirit to believe in magic than it was for a normal person.

Then, the misguided trio arrived in the city by the sea. Rapunzel’s heart pounded and her mouth went dry when she saw it. Jack had spent years telling her about the city on the sea and she had always wanted to see it, but she had never suspected it would look like this. It was beautiful. Creamy towers from the palace went up into the sky like tiers on a cake and the city was spread out all around it. Going in through the main gates brought them right into the market square. Rapunzel immediately rushed through, looking at everything, and Flynn trailed in her wake helplessly.

Even though Jack wasn’t there, Rapunzel was thinking that this was the best day of her life. Flynn was nice enough, buying or stealing things for her. He patiently followed her everywhere, answering her questions and pointing things out that he thought would interest her. 

When Rapunzel started a flash mob in the central square, dragging countless people to dance to the merry beat that a nearby band was playing. She danced beautifully, like a snowflake tossed on the wind, and she only laughed mysteriously when someone asked her where she learned it. She didn’t say that Jack Frost had taught her, even though she wanted to. Rapunzel danced with everyone and was surprised by just how warm human skin was. She was so used to Jack’s chill or the fleeting touches of Mother Gothel. 

When she was spun into Flynn’s arms and the heat of his body soaked into her, it was almost like a dream. For a moment, she just gazed at him, right into his dark eyes, and was aware of how close their faces were. His breath was warm on her face and smelled nothing of mint. It was strange, but welcome. Then, someone called something and the moment was broken. Rapunzel pulled away, looking longingly at the sky, but no one was there.

Dusk was falling. Rapunzel smiled at Flynn, following him dreamily as he led her to the docks. Together, they climbed into a small boat and Flynn rowed out into the middle of the sea, close enough that they would have the perfect view of whatever was about to happen.

Rapunzel leaned over the side of the boat, trailing her fingers in the salty water. She plucked some flowers from her hair and set them in the water, watching them float away.

When she saw something bright move in the sky, she jolted up as if she had been shot from a cannon. But it wasn’t Jack. It was a singular lantern, set free by the king and queen for their missing daughter. Rapunzel clung to the bow of the boat, watching the lantern float away in awe. Soon, the entire city was aglow with lanterns and stars that everyone had released like tiny angels into the heavens. The world looked magical, beautiful, and remarkable. 

It was everything she had ever imagined and the breeze was so cool on her back that it was almost like…

When she saw the movement in the sky, she almost didn’t look. She almost didn’t believe it. After all, she had been looking for Jack for what felt like an eternity and he had never been there. But then she smelled mint and looked up into the bright lantern-filled sky.

Jack hung there, a soft smile like a crescent moon on his pale face.

Then, Rapunzel heard the sound of a match being struck. When she turned, Flynn held two lanterns—one for each of them—and he was smiling at her beautifully. 

Rapunzel turned back and looked at Jack one final time. He nodded, just a small movement of his chin, as if he already knew what she had decided. And he probably did. They had been together for so long that they understood each other the way no one else did. 

But Jack was… a winter spirit… 

He stilled looked the same as he had when she first met him all those years ago. She had been twelve then and, though Jack looked older than his age, he would never look more than sixteen. Rapunzel was already eighteen. Her life was passing and he would remain the same forever.

They… couldn’t be together… but they always would be…

Rapunzel pressed her fingers to her lips and blew Jack a single kiss. One out-of-season snowflake floated down to her, landing cold in her palm. 

Then, Rapunzel turned back to Flynn and accepted the lantern. When she kissed him, she felt the heat of his life and the beat of his living heart. She could feel the place inside her that would always belong to Jack, rocking emptily, but the rest of her heart was open. She would never forget the spirit of winter that had been with her—teaching her, helping her, loving her—for all those years. She would never forget, but she would live.

X X X

Be sure to drop a review and tell me what you think. The last chapter is the most important one for reviews!

And so, at the end, Jack was taken to fight Pitch Black (Rapunzel's nightmares was your clue) and Rapunzel goes off with Flynn to see the lights. To me, it had kind of a LadyHawke vibe to it. "Always together, eternally apart." (That's a great movie. You should all watch it.) 

Please, check out my first ORIGINAL NOVEL! **The Breaking of Poisonwood by Paradise Avenger.** (Summary: People were dead. When Skye Davis bought me at a slave auction as a birthday present for his brother, I had no idea what my new life was going to be like, but I had never expected this. It all started when Venus de Luna was killed and I was to take her place, to become the new savior… Then, bad things happened and some people died. In the heart of the earth, we discovered the ancient being that Frank Davis had found and created and used to his advantage. The Poisonwood—)

Questions, comments, concerns?

I bid you 'Adieu.'


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